When she requested to see Above's version, he contemplated it for a moment, but finally nodded: "Fair enough." Sweeping fingers over the social pad, he sent the video to the new number. Although it didn't seem like it, but with the casual sweep his eyes did over Imhoff's surroundings, he was quickly drawing information. He hadn't been in any of the inhabitable Below's building before, but this still felt different from the most and the man tried to picture where this larger room could be located.

Although she attacked him for his misinformation, he only grinned at her, eyes sparkling with amusement. Oh, she was entertaining! He had shaken her balance slightly, to have her change her tactics so. What he had said couldn't be so far from truth as she'd like to have him think. Mannik was her weak spot after all. He decided he'd take Adelmar shopping for leading him to this piece of information. "Why thank you, Commander," Zenon drawled at her compliment, "but no need take my words so literally. Not all bonds are born from blood. And as for the rest, I don't keep such a personal watch over them, but they are being treated well."

At her mention that he couldn't punish her, for he couldn't have her, something flashed in his gray-blue eyes and he leaned slightly closer to camera, gaze boring into hers with fierce intensity. Then Imhoff told him that it had been her idea all along and he frowned slightly, as if disappointed at this. "I see, I see... I suppose I could have overestimated you after all, Commander, but we will see, won't we?" There was a definite challenge in his voice at that, and last thing she would see before turning the call off would be mocking, two finger salute he gave her.

He went to sleep content that night, glad he had contacted Imhoff and it had yielded good results. More than before, he expected her to come for Mannik and maybe the others and had already taken cautionary measures. He'd like to catch her in a fair game, though, to see who had the most wit and fire after all. How long would hers last as his prisoner? Not that he planned to mistreat or shame her in any way, for now he thought of her more like captivating rival and challenge rather than woman, although there was no denying she was beautiful in her own right...

---

Adelmar woke up with a start, staring into darkness ahead of her. After a moment, she fell back into the fluffy pillows and sighed. What a strange dream she had had! She had been standing on a cliff over stormy sea, staring into the water. She knew she was dead, few blood drops still beading and rolling down from the cut lines on her arms. Below was her passage into the next world, life, now that she was awake, she couldn't define it anymore. It was simply knowledge. And she had been waiting for someone. After a while, man appeared next to her, knife deep in his stomach. In the dream, she didn't know his name, she simply knew him, but now she recognized it as Mannik.

"How did that happen?" he had asked, looking at her wounds. "An accident," came her simple reply. "Mine too," he had nodded. "Strange accident - knife in guts," she had said with quirked eyebrow. "No stranger than yours," he reflected and she shrugged. "True enough. So, shall we?" He had taken her hand then and they jumped in the water below. Right as they hit the foamy tips of waves, she had woken up.

This wasn't first bizarre dream she had seen ever since returning home, but could very well be the most strange one. She had never considered self-harming, so it was complete nonsense. And why would Mannik be there? Sure, she couldn't quite get the image of his injury and the way she had had to sew him up out of her mind, but still. There was little hope for sleep now, so young woman sighed, got up and pulled her long robe on. She hid knife behind the belt, in the soft waves of the fabrics and exited her room. What surprised her there was that one of the elderly servants seemed to be checking something against one of the vases in corridor. "Garren?" she called out, "is something wrong?"

The man jumped, nearly out of his skin it seemed, and turned to her. "No, no, miss, I was simply - ah, mistress thought the vase might be cracked and I did not have time to check it until now, but it is fine. So I will be going now," with that he scurried off, leaving Adelmar completely confused. Who'd do such a thing in middle of the night? Suspicion grew in her stomach, but she decided she'd see if it was true after she had taken few breaths of fresh air. Walking out on the balcony, she leaned against railing with a sigh.